


Elementary Particles

by finch_in_flight, tacoasaurus



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, It's a golden compass/subtle knife/amber spyglass au!!, Other, Pidge starts out as katie, Slow Burn, all daemons are made by me for the purpose of the story lmao lmao, and is Lyra, between keith and lance, blah bla blah, coran is lee, you gotta read it to find out the rest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-28 00:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8423635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/finch_in_flight/pseuds/finch_in_flight, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tacoasaurus/pseuds/tacoasaurus
Summary: Katie lived a semi-normal life, but when her uncle turns out to be her dad, a witch fortells a prophecy, and she has to change her identity; Pidge Gunderson and his daemon, Lilium, take it upon themselves to stop evil with the help of a boy with a knife, an armored bear, and an alethiometer.





	1. [1] Vanilla Vodka and Possibly Cocaine

**Author's Note:**

> !!Important!!
> 
> This a His Dark Materials AU, I've shaped relationships and ages to fit my needs. As we meet people I'll add them up here.
> 
> Katie is 14  
> Lance is 16

Katie was snooping around the Jordan College, as she usually does. Recently, the arrival of Lord Regis and his daemon, a Lion by the name of Amicitia, was highly anticipated. Lord Regis had been off exploring the north, Svalbard, the land of the Panserbjørn, and was due to be returning to the Jordan College in Oxford, England.

Katie’s snooping had brought her to a dark corridor of the building, aiming to keep out of sight of the kitchen. For if any of the kitchen staff were to find her, she would be literal burnt toast. Her daemon, Lilium, was currently in the form of a rose haired tarantula, perched on Katie’s shoulder.

“Kaite! We should get out of the dining hall before the stewards arrive-” the tarantula spoke in a hushed voice laced with urgency. Daemons, for the most part, were the opposite sex as their human counterpart. Katie was one of the few who happened to have one of the same sex as she, which more often than not brought unwanted attention from one of the kitchen boys, Lance.

Lilium’s sharp intuition was more than enough to ward Katie out of the dimly lit dining hall, although Katie was reluctant to do so. Four long tables laced with shiny decor and empty silver platters awaiting food from the kitchens. The mahogany chairs with velvet cushions were what had drawn Katie to the back end of the hall in her wandering.

Heading towards where the Master of the college would sit, she admired the gold cutlery and pristine glasses set out for fourteen people. Lord Regis would be one of them. A small hum left Katie’s lips as she lightly tapped one of the goblets.

“You’re not taking this seriously,” Lilium hissed out.

“Behave yourself, Katie!”

The fourteen-year old ignored the warning and continued to roam around, taking the time to walk along the long benches surrounding the four tables for the scholars. Placing her arms out to keep her balance, she spoke indignantly, “they’re making too much noise in the kitchen to hear us. Besides, it’s still early, and the stewards won’t come until the first bell.”

She jumped off the bench, looking back at the crystalline goblet she had tapped a few minutes ago, Lilium jumping off her shoulder, taking the form of a plain moth, and flying ahead into the slightly open door to the Retiring Room. After a moment, Lilium reappeared.

“It’s empty up ahead, but that doesn’t mean you can be careless Katie,” she whispered. “But we must not dally around!”

A curled smile appeared on Katie’s face as she slipped through the doorway herself. The room was lit by only a large fireplace, a great pile of wood smothered with dancing flames. Katie had lived her entire life at the college, for she had no parents, and had never been in the Retiring Room. It was only for guests and people of that sort, but never females. That rule, no girls, it what made Katie fo this little exploration out of spite.

Lilium fluttered down onto Katie’s shoulder, mindful of the girl’s long hair.

“May we go now?” she whispered to Katie.

“Lilium, don’t be an egg, I want to look around!”

The room was large, a bit too large for Lilium’s liking. A large table of polished yew wood sat in the middle, chairs accented with gold surrounding it. Various bottles and decanters stood proudly on the table, the firelight making them appear to glow.

“Lil, look at all that Jesus water-”

“Katie!” Lilium scolded the girl.

Katie ignored the moth and plopped herself, rather inelegantly, into a green leather armchair. The cushions nearly swallowed the small girl, but she paid no mind.

“What do you think they discuss in here, Lil?” Katie asked, or at least attempted to before a loud click was heard.

“Quick! Katie, behind the chair!” Lilium gasped out.

In a flash of panic, Katie vaulted herself over the back of the chair, landing on her side. It was a terrible hiding place, in the middle of the room, and unless she kept quiet, she would be found out.

The door opened, albeit slowly, and a new light flooded the room.  From under the chair, she spied the ugly green trousers servants wore. Her nose crinkled in distaste.

“Has Lord Regis arrived?” a new voice spoke. It was the Master of the college. Katie swallowed her spit as the servant’s daemon, a dog like all servants daemons, padded by the chair. Lilium quivered on Katie’s shoulder.

“No, Master,” the butler stated, “no word from the aerodock either.”

“He will be hungry when he arrives. Lead him to the dining hall.”

“Yes sir.”

“Also, have you managed to get the spirits he requests whenever he’s here?”

“Vanilla vodka, yes, as you ordered.”

“Good, you may go.”

The butler bowed and left the room in great strides, the dog at his heels. From her ‘hiding place’ she was able to see the Master remove his heavy coat, and place it into a dark wardrobe, pulling out his formal gown. Now that, that would be a good place to hide.

The Master’s daemon was in the form of a raven, and as soon as he had placed his gown on, she returned to her spot on his shoulder.

Katie could feel Lilium buzzing with anxiety, poor girl. She’d have to make sure to apologize when this was all over. But Katie was very excited. She would get to see Lord Regis, her uncle! He was always off doing politics or exploring, and she rarely got to see him anymore. If he caught her, she would be dead meat. Yikes.

What Katie saw next pulled all her attention away from everything else. The Master, a spindly man with inky hair and a large nose, pulled a little packet out of one of his pockets, and poured the contents into Regis’ vodka. That ho! He made sure none of the powder was left in the packet, then dropped it into the fire. Swiftly, as if on a raven’s wings, he left the room.

Katie didn’t have time to say anything before the first bell rang. If she hadn’t seen the Master put _something_ into Lord Regis’ drink, she would risk leaving, But she couldn’t just leave it as is, someone could die maybe. And so, she sped over to the wardrobe and flung herself in, making sure to close it behind her, just as the steward came back.

Through a crack in the wardrobe door, she saw him lay out a few glasses on a tray. His daemon, a small airedale terrier sniffed suspiciously.

“Katie,” a small voice whispered out from beside her. “We’re going to have to stay here for who knows how long, you should’ve listened to me!”

“But they’re going to try to kill Lord Regis!”

“We don’t know that for sure, Katie! It could be sugar or something.”

“Or something, Lilium. And that something could be poison!”

“We’ll be stuck in here for four hours, and you get sweaty.”

“Wow Lil, rude. Regardless, we’re staying”

Lilium let out an upset puff of air, and snuggled herself into Katie’s pocket, in the form of a mouse.

 

And so, they waited.

 


	2. [1.5] Might As Well Accept The Wardrobe As Home Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Katie is 14  
> Lance is 16

_And so, they waited._

The two sat quietly for a while, Katie rather uncomfortable having lost all feeling in her butt about ten minutes ago. It didn’t help that Lilium’s whiskers kept tickling her through the rather ‘hole-y’ sweater she donned.

The steward came and left, rather uneventfully so. Just as Katie had began to nod off, the door opened once more, but this time, the steward wasn't alone.

“Thank you, please leave me be. I must prepare for the presentation.” A warm voice, one belonging to Lord Regis, rang through the room. Amicitia’s tail swished silently and she lay beside the fire blazing away in the ornate fireplace, casting a warm light over the golden lion.

“As you wish sir,” the steward replied, taking leave with a small bow. And so, he left the room. His little terrier at his heels.

Katie was fully awake now, her honey brown eyes tracing every move her uncle made. He was walking towards the table. The possibly cocaine laced vodka! Katie kicked the door open as best she could, and tumbled out of the wardrobe - yelling.

“Uncle Regis it's poisoned!”

Regis held the glass in his hand delicately, his face hardening defensively, taking on a steely look.

“Katie, what are you doing here?” He asked calmly, well, as calmly as regal man with a lion could be.

“The Master, he put something in your drink!” She exclaimed grabbing onto Regis’ arm, pulling the cup farther away from him.

Amicitia was up on her paws, and by Regis’ side in a flash. He wet nose sniffed the contents of the cup with incredulous competence. You could suppose that Regis has been tried to be poisoned before.

The lion nodded her head, showing she did in fact find the drink to be laced with some sort of something.

A scowl crossed Lord Regis’ hard face as he made his way over to the fire, dumping the contents of the cup out. The flames jumped up greedily upon contact.

“Katie,” the girl perked up at the sound of his voice, “knock over the bottle, make it look like an accident.”

Katie did as she was told, and secretly enjoyed it very much. It's not often at all that someone tells you to intentionally break something.

“Uncle-” Katie began.

“Stop. I don't care whether the drink was poisoned or not, what the hell were you doing in that wardrobe?”

Katie looked away bashfully, ashamed that she had been caught so easily. Especially after saving his life! A little pout appeared on her lips as a red hue spread across her face and neck.

“Well, I just, I just wanted to see what was going on and-”

The sound of footsteps alerted Amicita, and she hissed out a warning, “Katie, get back in the wardrobe, now!”

Katie, for once, didn't object to what Amicitia said.

“The steward must be back,” Lilium whispered quietly, back to being a small tarantula on Katie’s shoulder.

Katie let out a small hum of acknowledgement.

Lo and behold, the same stubborn steward from earlier reappeared, a look of surprise covered his face at the sight of the broken vodka bottle.

“I apologize,” Lord Regis began, settling down into the same green chair Katie had hid behind earlier, “I somehow managed to knock it over.”

The steward quickly got to work cleaning up the mess, and the next several minutes with heavily eventful. People started arriving. Scholars, doctors, political persons of power, such of the like from Oxford. They were here to see Regis’ presentation on something he discovered up north, the place he had been for the last few months.

Katie’s heart raced as she listed, her eyes tracing the anbaric projector’s light, casting the beautiful yet grayscale photos on the white sheet.

“The north had brought me to a realization. One so phenomenal. A beautiful thing called _Dust.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so, this will be a "thing" sometimes. Half chapters. I'm trying to follow the book, but I want to make sure I don't exhaust myself too much, so small increments. Half chapters will literally be half the size of a regular chapter, but are still part of the previous one. It's stupid, but it'll help with updating faster.


	3. [2] Regis Is A Dick™

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Katie is 14  
> Lance is 16  
> Hunk is 19  
> Shiro is an old man (let's just assume about 40 for plot purposes)
> 
> Apologies for such a short chapter, I had a lot of trouble with this one. I have to re-read part of the book to write the next chapter, so it may take me a few days to update - but it's not like anyone is waiting for me to lmao. I still have to chose a character to represent Coulter (see the poll prompt and the end notes) before I can really get going on writing this further

“ _The north had brought me to a realization. One so phenomenal. A beautiful thing called_ Dust _.”_

  
Katie was paying attention, amazingly so, only to see Lord Regis segway into politics. Blah. Katie wanted to hear about cool stuff, like the Panserbjørn from Svalbard, or the Tartars, heck, even more about Dust.

  
A few scholars, and the Sub-Rector arrived a few minutes late, saying something about a rowdy boy from the kitchens serenading the dining hall with the help of a guitar and a rather loud bird. 

  
Katie had to hold in her giggles knowing fully well who the kitchen boy was; Lance. Her tall friend whose family hailed from Spain. He had a weak accent and cooked a mean omelette, let's just say that whenever Katie was sad, she was given some heckin’ tasty stuff to eat. Lance’s daemon still hasn't settled, but more often than not, she alternated between a lion, a house cat, and a peregrine falcon. Nymphaea, his daemon, had a caring personality, and while she could be reckless (much like Lance,) she loved her pals unconditionally. Lilium’s somewhat snarky personality, and Nymphaea’s courageous one, didn't help much when Katie and Lance would dare each other to do things that could end very badly for both of them. Like mud fights with some of the Gyptian children.

  
Katie had first met the duo on the roof of the college, when she had been snooping around as always. The two of them talked a bunch, and Lance told her stories about his old home, and the Gyptians, including his friend named Hunk. Hunk was a Gyptian boy, the one who would become the leader in due time, with a daemon of a steadfast bear named Shay. Having proceeded Lance by a few years in age, Shay settled. No longer able to change forms, like Lilium or Nymphaea would.

  
Still incredibly uncomfortable, and to the best of her ability, Katie pulled down one of the fur coats inside the wardrobe, using it as a plush surface to sit on - as opposed to the hard wooden flooring. The coat was soft, and warm, against her pale legs.

  
“You should've used a scratchy one, Katie,” whispered Lilium. “If you get too comfy, you'll fall asleep. You're the one who insisted we stay, so you have to stay awake.”

  
“Hey Lil, it's your job to wake me up if I do,” Katie whispered back to the spider.

  
Lilium let out an annoyed puff of air, but kept quiet otherwise.

  
Lord Regis began his presentation, setting up photo slides of the north. Katie and Lilium both were intrigued.

  
“As all of you know, I set out twelve months ago to the north. On a diplomatic mission of course, for the King of Lapland. That all was a lie. It was my cover story to gain funding for my expedition way north, to find out what happened to the Shirogane group. One of Takashi’s last messages he sent spoke of a natural phenomenon only seen in the northern lands. I wanted to confirm, since Takashi and I were associates back in the day. But first, I must show you all something.”

  
Regis put one of the slides into the anbaric projector, pushing it the final big behind the lens. A black and white photograph of a clear night, the ground having several machines set up upon it. A man heavily dressed in furs stood, his face not visible in any way, with a small figure next to him. A child.

  
“This photograph was taken like every other one would be. Standard silver nitrate, you know how it is. Now, I'm going to show you a picture taken only a moment later, with a special emulsion prepared just for this,” Lord Regis explained and he swapped the slides.

  
Sliding in the second one, Katie stared in awe. The photo was much darker than the previous one, but the most intriguing thing was the stream of light extending from the man’s hand.

  
“That, is Dust.”

  
A blanket of silence fell over the room. Katie could feel the blood pounding in her ears. The silence was suffocating.

  
Lord Regis let the heavy silence wash over everyone. What a dick.

  
Katie mulled over everything she'd seen so far, and was completely lost inside her head until one of the scholars let out an odd noise of discomfort.

  
“Is that?”

  
“It can't be-”

  
Lord Regis cleared his throat, “I can assure you, this is in fact Shirogane’s severed head.”

  
The view from the wardrobe made it hard, but the glass box containing the head of a man was rather foggy. A hole was made in the top of the skull, for reasons unknown to Katie.

  
“The Tartars have special beliefs, ones involving Dust. That it enters through the head and into the mind.”

  
“But yet,” Regis continued, “it doesn't affect children. Only those whose daemons have settled are at risk.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My dearest pal has joined as my editor, for those few and far mistakes that happen whenever I write and post and midnight. 
> 
> For those of you that have read the Amber Spyglass (or at least up to it, Keith's character comes in the Subtle Knife), it's obvious who I'm going to peg Keith for. :>
> 
> For lack of naming well, I've been inserting FFXV names in the hype train I'm in since it's coming out so soon. I'm planning on slipping in a lot of Final Fantasy names when I don't have a Voltron character to insert, since it'll make it more fun for me to write. 
> 
> Anyway, small poll. Ms Coulter, yeah? Should I use Haggar, or make a completely separate character like I did with Regis?


End file.
